The Friel Sisters with Liz Doherty and Fiddlesticks

The Friel Sisters, Anna, Sheila and Clare Friel are traditional musicians born and brought up in Glasgow with their family roots firmly entrenched in the Donegal Gaeltacht in the Northwest of Ireland. They play a mixture of music interspersed with songs in English and Irish, many from their family repertoire. Being siblings, they achieve a close blend on fiddle, flute and uilleann pipes. They have released 2 albums thus far, playing all over the world in various venues and festivals and have appeared on stage and toured with acts such as Altan, The Chieftains, Lúnasa, Sharon Shannon, The Máirtín O’Connor Trio, Cherish the Ladies and Solas. The girls have won many prestigious titles and competitions over the years, most recently Clare receiving the huge honour of TG4 Young Musician of the Year/Ceoltóir Óg na Bliana.

The Friel Sisters will be joined by Marty Barry, guitar player and singer from Banbridge, Co. Down and Cathal Ó Curráin, bouzouki player and singer from Gaoth Dobhair, near the girls family home in Donegal who was recently awarded Best Emerging Artist for 2022 at the RTÉ Folk Award in Dublin.

Fiddlesticks was formed in the 1990s in the Music Dept at University College, Cork by Liz Doherty. Conceived at the time as a new way for teaching and learning traditional music through performance, this innovative group was the first big traditional Irish fiddle ensemble. The membership changed often over the years as students graduated and new students joined, but the group typically included over 20 musicians from all over Ireland. 

Fiddlesticks came to its natural conclusion when Liz Doherty left UCC to pursue other career interests in 2001. But, in 2022, following an irresistible invitation from the Baltimore Fiddle Fair, the band came back together for a special anniversary event in Cork – 21 years on! This was followed by a stunning performance on TG4’s Fleadh programme in Summer 2023. And 2024 brings them to Celtic Connections!